BEQUETTE FREE
1. Mich. Sta. Bul. 118:32. 1895. 2. Am. Pom. Soc. Cat. 35. 1909.
Bequett Free. 3. U. S. D. A. Pom. Rpt. 41. 1895. 4. Am. Pom. Soc. Cat. 32. 1899. 5. Budd-Hansen Am. Hort. Man. 2:337. 1903.
Becquette Free. 6. Tex. Sta. Bul. 39:806. 1896. 7. Del. Sta. Rpt. 13:91. 1901.
As it grows at this Station, Bequette Free makes a favorable impression because of the flavor and attractive appearance of the fruit. It is not a new variety, however, and the fact that it seems to have been rather widely and well tested without receiving general commendation except on the Pacific Slope is against its having a place in the list of desirable peaches for the Eastern States. The trees are fast-growing, very vigorous, hardy and densely clothed with foliage but cannot be called fruitful and are, possibly, a little too susceptible to leaf-curl. The color-plate shows the fruit to be a little more irregular than it is in nature.
This variety originated about 1860 in a seedling orchard of Benjamin Bequette, Visalia, California. J. H. Thomas of the same place named the sort and first propagated it about 1877. In 1899 the American Pomological Society added the variety to its list of fruits under the name Bequett Free but in 1909 corrected the spelling to Bequette Free.
BEQUETTE FREE
Tree large, vigorous, spreading, open-topped, hardy, rather unproductive; trunk thick, smooth; branches stocky, smooth, reddish-brown mingled with light ash-gray; branchlets slender, long, olive-green mingled with dark red, smooth, glabrous, with numerous large and small, inconspicuous, raised lenticels.
Leaves very numerous, six and three-fourths inches long, one and three-fourths inches wide, folded upward, oval-lanceolate inclined to broad-obovate, leathery; upper surface very dark green, smooth or slightly rugose; lower surface light grayish-green; margin coarsely serrate, tipped with dark glands; petiole three-eighths inch long, with two to five large, reniform, greenish-yellow glands variable in position.
Flower-buds large, long, oblong-conic, plump, pointed, heavily pubescent, usually appressed; blossoms appear in mid-season; flowers light to dark pink, nearly one and one-fourth inches across, borne in ones and twos; pedicels short, thick, glabrous, green; calyx-tube reddish-green, light yellow within, campanulate, glabrous; calyx-lobes rather short, medium to narrow, nearly acute, pubescent within, heavily pubescent without; petals roundish-oval, slightly notched near the base, tapering to short, narrow claws tinged with red at the base; filaments nearly one-half inch long, shorter than the petals; pistil heavily pubescent at the ovary, longer than the stamens.
Fruit matures in mid-season; two and one-half inches long, two and three-eighths inches wide, round-oval, compressed, often with unequal sides; cavity small, deep, abrupt or flaring, often tinged with red; suture shallow, deepening toward the apex; apex roundish, depressed at the center, with a small, recurved, mamelon tip; color greenish-white mingled with yellow, blushed, splashed and blotched with dark red; pubescence thick, long, coarse; skin thin, tough, separates readily from the pulp; flesh white, slightly tinged with red near the pit, juicy, stringy, tender and melting, pleasantly flavored, sprightly; good to very good in quality; stone nearly free, one and three-eighths inches long, seven-eighths inch wide, oval, with a short-pointed apex, medium in plumpness, with deeply pitted and slightly grooved surfaces; ventral suture slightly bulged near the apex, deeply furrowed along the edges, narrow; dorsal suture grooved.
BERENICE
1. La. Sta. Bul. 3:44. 1890. 2. Ibid. 27:941. 1894. 3. Tex. Sta. Bul. 39:806. 1896. 4. Ga. Sta. Bul. 42:233. 1898. 5. Del. Sta. Rpt. 13:92. 1901. 6. Mich. Sta. Bul. 194:45. 1901. 7. Berckmans Cat. 10. 1912-13.
When at its best Berenice is hardly surpassed in quality by any other peach but it seems capricious, in the North at least, and this, with the fact that it is none too attractive in coloring, is probably the reason why the variety is not more grown. The trees are about all that could be desired, falling short chiefly in not being as productive as several other peaches of its season and in being a little susceptible to leaf-curl. The variety has been offered to fruit-growers a sufficient length of time to have had its merits well tried as a commercial peach and the fact that it is not now largely grown is presumptive evidence that it has little commercial value. Its high quality makes the variety a good sort for the home collection at least.